The Unexpected Pair
by 123onlyforyou
Summary: Clary is just another face in the crowd at her high school. However, she is one the few girls at the school who doesn't fall for the school's "Golden Boy", Jace Herondale. What happens when she and the most popular boy in school end up in the Principle's office and have to serve the punishment together? Will their hatred grow, or turn into something else? Rated k to be safe
1. Chapter 1

My alarm blared through my thick duvet cover, interrupting one of the most peaceful sleeps I've had in a long time. Worst of all, it was interrupting it because I had to go to school. Groaning, I rolled over, pushing a tangle of red curly hair out of my face and slapped the top of the clock enjoying a moment of silence to gather myself. With all of the strength I could muster, I pulled myself out of my bed that was looking more and more tempting as the cold air enveloped my body. I only leave myself about half an hour every morning to get ready, so quickly, I stepped into a steamy shower. I then did some light and natural makeup, slid into some boyfriend jeans, a pair of ankle boots I had recently gotten as a present and crème knit top. In an attempt to tame my hair, I twirled it around my finer and into a bun with some loose strands to frame my face before snatching my shoulder bag off of my desk and heading downstairs. Jonathan, my brother, was already sitting at the kitchen counter eating a large bowl of cereal. He saw me and grunted in greeting.

"Mom and Luke already at work?" I questioned, picking up a banana from the fruit basket and unpeeling it.

Grunt.

"Ugh, how can you eat that stuff like that?" I look at him, shovelling it ungracefully into his mouth, "it looks as if you haven't eaten in months."

Grunt.

I sighed. He was always like this in the mornings.

"Hey, can I get a lift with you to school?" I leant across the counter doing my best puppy dog eyes. He glanced unconcernedly up at me from his cereal and swallowed.

"Fine," he said, "but we have to pick up Jace-"

"On second thought, I don't mind walking." Retracting myself from the counter, I hurried towards the door.

"What's your problem with him?" I hear Jonathan call from behind me. I scoffed in response before shutting the door behind me. What kind of a question is that? I plug my headphones into my phone. Jace Herondale. I don't know him all that well, but I don't have to. Just because I don't associate myself with him doesn't mean he doesn't make it his business to associate himself with the whole school. He thinks that everything is always about him, and if it isn't, it should be. He doesn't even have to say it out loud, either, you can just tell it from the way he walks around school. Flipping his golden hair. His amber eyes looking down on everyone, or scoping out slutty girls. I don't know why, it just pissed me off. He was friends with Jonathon because they're on the same football team. I don't normally judge people like this, I'm normally actually quite accepting, but I felt that he wasn't one that deserved it. I'd heard about the things he'd done- how he treats girls. Not every single detail might be true, but the gist of each story gets across. He flirts with girl, girl falls for him, he uses girl and then throws girl away. It wasn't a pattern that I wanted to be a part of, so to avoid ever being in a situation like that I just decided to avoid him. Not that he would ever be interested in me. I mean, we were in completely different social circles. As cliché as it sounded, he hung out with the "jocks" and the "populars", while I was just middle class. I wasn't a nerd. I was actually liked by a majority of my class. But there was also the fact that I wasn't what most people considered "hot" or even "pretty". For starters, I was short. Like, really short. I had fiery red frizzy hair, green eyes and freckles. A whole heap of freckles. It wasn't exactly the best combination to have. The Coldplay I was blasting through my headphones was invaded by a beeping noise. I turned my head in confusion to see my brother's jeep driving slowly next to me. Jonathan at the wheel, and Jace in the seat next to him, smirking. Grudgingly, I took one of my earbuds out.

"You really shouldn't listen to your music that loud, you're going to go deaf." My brother chastised.

"It's Coldplay, it's allowed." I grimaced, preparing to put it back in and continue walking, but Jace spoke up.

"Hey, Red." He smirked. Jace's arm was propped up lazily on the sill of the car window. He looked so effortlessly cool it somehow made me hate him more.

"How original." I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes. Red was a nickname, whether was used in a manner to make fun of me or not was unknown, that was used every so often for me. I hated it.

"Thanks," he said, "I've been working on it for a while." The car continued to roll slowly while I continued to walk down the block.

"I was being sarcastic." I said in bored tone, looking straight ahead, swinging my headphone in circles.

"Really?" the mock hurt in his voice was clear, "Well, you should probably get better at that seeing as I did not get that at all."

"Really?" I mimicked his tone, "It could be just because you're stupid. Yeah. I think that's it."

"Tut tut tut, Fray, your kind brother and I were going to offer you a lift to school, but after that I don't think we will." I could hear the joy he was getting out of taunting me. But it didn't intimidate me. It only made me more determined to crush that extra large ego of his. It was about time.

"Oh my god, I think I'm about to cry. I won't be able to live. I'm going to have to walk a whole 5 blocks all by myself!" I brought my hands up to my heart and turned to look him straight in the eye. "Was that sarcasm clear enough for you? Or would you like some more?"

Jace snorted but didn't say anything. Putting my headphone back in, I watched as the back of the Jeep rolled away.

I sat down in my usual seat in homeroom, between Simon and Maia.

"Hey kids." I said as I slung my bag over the back of my chair. They both smiled up at me and replied in response.

"Saw your brother drove to school this morning, as if you didn't get a ride." whispered Maia, her dark chocolate eyes surveying my face, as if I was crazy to want to walk to school by myself. I liked to walk to school alone. It was nice to listen to music and not to have to pretend like I was interested in holding a conversation.

"Yes, well, that was because Jon was giving Jace a lift as well." I replied firmly, pursing my lips sourly.

"Oh, right," growled Maia. Maia and I, including Isabelle which didn't really count seeing as Jace was her brother (adopted, but still.), were probably the only two girls in the school who were able to see past Herondale's façade.

"I totally understand now." She nodded. I made a "humph" sound in approval.

"Speak of the devil." Muttered Simon, who at some point must have tuned in to the conversation without either of us noticing. Maia and I made a point to ignore Jace's entrance- it would only fuel his ego if he thought that _everyone_ in the room was just waiting for his arrival. Simon, however, was not on the same page as us. He stared at Jace, open mouthed, as he waltzed into the classroom followed by his lackeys, Sebastian and Alec. I pretended to be engaged in a very interesting conversation with Maia as I felt Jace's gaze slide over us, and land on the person next to me.

"Morning Stuart, you know I never really picked you for the gay type, but I guess you learn something new every day." He flashed a quick cheeky smile and a wink at Simon, who had snapped out of his gaze. He started to turn a light shade of pink and began clearing his throat awkwardly.

"M'name's not Stuart…" he mumbled, pushing his glasses further up his nose, but Jace didn't seem to hear, or care. He was sitting in the row diagonally across from us, talking to his friends. This was when I finally allowed myself to look. I mean, Jace was good looking, that much was clear what with his golden hair and chiselled bone structure, but I felt that because he knew it so god damn well, it detracted from his attractiveness (u feel?) There was such a thing as too much confidence, and Jace Herondale was the definition. I let my eyes wander over to Sebastian. He, too, was _very_ fortunate looking. Black hair, kind black eyes matched with a muscular body. Now, I hadn't really ever spoken to him or heard of anything he'd done. He seemed like the quiet one of the "jocks", the more reserved one. Occasionally, we would have awkward eye contact, but whenever I looked at him there wasn't anything sarcastic or cocky about him, which I liked. I then turned my focus to Alec. He was Isabelle's real brother, which was obvious; black hair, piercing blue eyes. He was quite the jokester, if I recall correctly. However, there was something about him that made me feel like he was hiding something. I could tell that he felt a little uncomfortable where he was, but why? I thought he fit in perfectly fine.

"Earth to Clary!" Simon's voice sung irritatingly in my ear. I swatted him away.

"Ugh, don't do that, it's so annoying!" I whined. I cupped my chin with my hands and watched the front of the classroom as our first teacher of the day walked in, Mr. Starkweather.

"You weren't listening. You were off in your own little world again." He said quietly, sounding a little hurt by my reaction. Swallowing down the irritation that was rising up in my throat, which I was sure wasn't from Simon but from someone else; I turned to him with a reproachful smile.

"Sorry, Si, you know how I get sometimes." I rubbed his shoulder, and batted my eyelashes slightly. Simon smiled and shook his head, brushing my hand off of him.

"Shut up, Fray, you're such a tease!" he chuckled. I laughed along with him, pushing my hair out of my face.

"Excuse me, am I interrupting something?" Mr. Skarkweather was at the whiteboard at the front of the classroom, eyeing us heavily. Our laughter died off, and I was pretty sure I heard Simon trying to disguise his as a cough. It wasn't very convincing.

"Um, no sir, sorry." I said, licking my lips.

"And Mr. Lewis? Are you done…flirting with Miss Fray?" It was as if he hadn't realised he had said anything wrong, but as soon as he said it my eyes snapped shut, resisting the urge to punch him in the face. A hum of laughter fell on the classroom.

"You see, sir," drawled a newcomer to the conversation, "I don't think that's accurate seeing as Sam-"

A guttural noise sounded from the back of Simon's throat.

"-has…homosexual tendencies."

Giggles erupted in the room. My eyes flickered open to see Jace, throwing his head back in laughter. I expected both Sebastian and Alec to be approving of their leader, but Sebastian just rolled his eyes while Alec looked pained- as if he was constipated…Or just really, really uncomfortable. I hoped the situation at hand was the latter.

I felt Simon tense next to me, and an intake of breath on Maia's part. A large smirk was plastered across Jace's face, eyes glinting with malice. I glared at him as hard as I could.

"Don't", I said underneath my breath "Don't, it's what he wants. Don't say anything."

"I see…" trailed off Mr. Starkweather, "Well, in any case, please don't let it happen again."

The rest of the class went by in a blur and by the time the bell rang to signify the conclusion of first period, I felt more than obliged to leave. Simon and Maia were at my side as we strode down the hallway, making sure to steer clear of "populars", as we made our way to the art classroom. Simon was silent, but I sensed that it was pent up aggression and as soon as he found the right person to-

"You know what your _brother_ did to me?" spat Simon as Isabelle caught up to us.

"Um, no?" she said, looking bemused. She cast a look in me and Maia's direction, silently asking for a clue as to what Simon was so upset about, but Maia just grabbed my hand and pulled me ahead of the two.

"Let him vent to Izzy, come on." She murmured. I laughed lightly and shook my head, a silver glint catching my eye on the wall to my left. It was a poster for the Prom in two months, telling us to "vote for Prom King and Queen!"

"Ugh." I groaned, reaching over Maia and snatching the poster off the wall, "Please, we all know who's going to win. Bloody, Jace Herondale and Aline Penhallow. It's rigged and everybody knows it, it's just a popularity contest." I crumbled up the glossy paper and threw it in the nearest trash can.

Maia nodded in agreement, "Plus, it's guaranteed to be shit. Nobody can be bothered to organise it properly. I mean we have Claudia and Janette, but what do they honestly know about having a good time? Their weekends are spent indoors…playing Dungeons and Dragons… and stuff."

I smirked. It was true, none of the populars wanted to organise it because they thought that because they were popular, it was some sort of birth rite of theirs to not contribute to it; even though they're the only ones who want to go. Their excuses always go along the lines of, _it's their special night so why should they be organising it_. It was ridiculous, but it got them off the hook. Our group wasn't going so we weren't held responsible, something that I thanked the Lord for on a daily basis.

"Preach it, sister." We giggled as we walked into the art rooms, able to hear the conversation between Isabelle and Simon.

"You know it's not true right?" Simon's desperate voice questioned harshly.

"Yes, Simon, calm down! Jace was just being an ass, that's just how he is." I turned around to see Isabelle peck Simon on the cheek, causing a red flush to spread up his face and down his neck. My stomach squirmed. It wasn't jealousy, I didn't think. It was just that Simon and I had always been best friends, and it had always been my responsibility to look after him, but High School had pulled us apart. Though we were still incredibly close, the introduction of Isabelle had definitely distracted him from his best friend duties. There was a part of him that had feelings for Isabelle. And while this wasn't the part that bothered me, I knew that if somehow he did get Isabelle it would stretch our relationship further apart. It also didn't help that she was extremely beautiful, making me constantly feel self-conscious and like I had competition. However, Izzy and I had become such great friends that I honestly did my best to not let these factors interfere with our relationship. I just told myself that growing apart was natural and healthy, and that change shouldn't scare me as much as it did; that I should just learn to accept it. By nature, that wasn't something that I did, I was very stubborn, even when it came to issues that concerned my mentality, I couldn't help it.

This was where art came in. Art was like my release from the physical world, from the real world. Where I could create anything that I wanted, manifest any dream or piece of imagination that I wanted. It was my escape. Those worlds were so much better than this one. There, I had control. There, I was anyone that I had decided I would be in that instant and it wouldn't matter because people wouldn't be there to judge me. It put me into a state of mind that subconsciously blocked all ties from the real world. So for those few minutes in which I drew, all of my problems were non-existent, which was nice.


	2. Chapter 2

_Golden wings, golden hair, white top unbuttoned, floating beneath the stars and the crescent moon. Long slim fingered hands, black jeans-_

"What are you drawing?"

"Huh?" the intelligent sound escaped from my mouth before I could stop it. Jace was standing above me, smirking down at my work. I looked down at my sketch. The boy, or rather angel, that I had drawn was faceless, and the background was incomplete, but I would say that I was quite proud of the handiwork.

"Umm… I don't know, I was just sketching really…" I fumbled over my words, surprised by the question he just asked. There wasn't anything sarcastic about how he asked it, so I wasn't sure exactly how to respond.

"I think it's really good." I looked back up to see that Sebastian had joined Jace in the time that I was trying to find a suitable reply.

My eyes flickered uncertainly between the boys, hoping to catch some suspicious glances between the two that would reveal that they were making fun of me. But there were none.

"Um, thanks?" I said, hesitantly, raising an eyebrow.

Jace chuckled, crossing his arms in front of him.

"You really don't know how to take a compliment do you, Fray?"

"Yes, I do!" I scowled.

"Oh, really?" he said, bending down so he was eye level with me, possibly wanting to make me uncomfortable. I felt his warm breath wash over me, smelling of mint. I stood my ground.

"Yes, really," I countered, "I think it's just that fact that I'm not used to them coming from you."

"Oh, on the contrary, I wasn't the one who complimented you. It was this one," he pointed to Sebastian, "for who knows why. I personally think there's nothing that special about it." He returned to his normal standing position, arms crossed.

"Yes, because my goal for my whole artistic life has been to please you." I seethed, glaring at him venomously. I saw Sebastian supress a smile.

"I knew it!" Jace cheered triumphantly, going for a high-five with Sebastian, but being shut down as his friend just shook his head.

"Sarcasm, again, Herondale." I looked at him dead-panned.

"Like I said earlier today, you need to work on that." He challenged, another smirk playing across his lips. I squinted at him, before turning my attention to Sebastian.

"Thank you for the compliment Sebastian, I really appreciate it." I smiled at him sweetly, purposely ignoring the presence of Jace.

"Now worries, Clary, any time." He smiled back, showcasing his perfect set of teeth, obviously enjoying our silent agreement to piss Jace off. However, one thing stuck with me from that sentence, more than his blindingly good looks.

_He called me Clary. _

Taking in a shaky breath, I gave one last small smile before turning back to my work.

"What was that?" whispered Maia.

"I have _no_ idea." I shook my head, scratching the back of my neck.

I had never really spoken to Sebastian, but he didn't seem at all as bad as the rest of his group. He seemed nice and genuine.

"Sebastian is well fit." Izzy interjected from my other side, biting her lip seductively while staring at him. She then locked eyes with me and smiled suggestively.

"Shut up, Izzy" I laughed, "You could go there anytime you wanted. He's in your league easily."

Isabelle pursed her lips thoughtfully, flicking her long straight hair over her shoulder.

"True," she said slowly, "But…He's just not my type. I like the bad boy type. You know, the rough boys."

I heard Simon clear his throat unevenly and I smirked.

"You right, Simon?" Maia asked, feigning concern. We both knew of Simon's crush on Isabelle, and Isabelle's state of denial for it, "You might need to get something for your throat, sounds like you might be getting sick."

I threw Maia an amused expression, which she returned comically, while shrugging one shoulder and outlining her sketch once more. ************************************************** *******************************

"Seriously," Izzy stated, "You have to help me with Art, or it is guaranteed that I am going to fail it."

We were standing in the line at the cafeteria, waiting as it slowly made progress. Isabelle was in front of me and Simon and Maia were behind me having their own little conversation.

"Hah," I snorted, "I think you're exaggerating just a _little_." I snatched an apple from the fruit basket.

"No, no I'm not." Isabelle piled some lettuce onto her plate. I shook my head, knowing that I wouldn't be able to win this argument. When Izzy had her mind set on something, there was no way in hell you were going to change it. It was a little like me, which is probably why we were such good friends.

"Look, you're amazing at art Clary. You just need to suck it up, stop being so self-conscious and accept it. The sooner you do that, the better. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but you needed to hear it. Own it." Isabelle stared at me wide eyed, hand on hip. If I wasn't friends with her, I would have found her terrifying, but because I was I just resorted to laughter. It was an uncomfortable topic for me. Jace was right; I was never very good at taking compliments. The only reason I accepted Sebastian's was because I wanted to prove Jace wrong; there was nothing that could top the feeling of that.

"Gah," she cried exasperatedly, "Whatever, you're helping me, end of." Isabelle grabbed my wrist and hauled me over to our usual lunch spot. Simon and Maia followed.

I looked around the cafeteria. Jace was sitting with his "jock" friends, which included Alec, Sebastian, Jonathan, Will, James and a couple others who I didn't recall names for. The popular girls sat with them, but didn't really engage in their conversation. They practically just sat there, either looking at their nails or themselves, or talking about which boy in that group they thought would be okay to be their next victim that weekend. These girls were led by Aline, Seelie and Kaelie. I frowned in disgust as I looked at their short leather skirts and tight bra-like "tops". How the school let them dress like that was beyond me.

"Ugh," I said, the large bite of apple in my mouth nearly rendering my speech incoherent, "I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure any form of pants are not supposed to be able to show your ovaries."

Somehow, my friends understood me. Probably because I eat like this all the time. I glanced over at their table again to see Kaelie stroking Sebastian's arm, simultaneously giggling intelligibly and twirling her platinum blonde hair around her finger. I was surprised she could do so many things at once.

"Ugh," I repeated, still chewing, "Actually, l'm not even sorry." I got up to go put my apple core in the bin to realise that the only one available had a path that went directly past Jace's table. Clenching my jaw, I walked towards the bin, making sure to keep my head down as I went past. I heard someone call my name, but I ignored it, throwing my apple in the bin when I was close enough. Engulfed in triumph of getting to the other side of the room, I started to walk back, trying to understand why I thought it would be hard. Looking back, I think I must have jinxed myself. As I was walking past Jace's table, my foot caught on something bringing my body slamming down into the ground.

"Wow, sorry, didn't see you there." I looked up to see Jace leering down at me from his seat. He had tripped me. I swallowed down the anger that was bubbling inside of me as I heard the cafeteria grow silent, knowing that all eyes were on me and how I composed myself in this situation. I saw Jon was concentrating on me, tight lipped, not knowing whether he should help me or stay with his friends. Typical.

"No worries, Jace," I nearly choked on the words as they came out of my mouth, "We all know I'm pretty clumsy."

I lifted my hand up on the edge of the table to support me in standing up. Placing all my weight on it and trying to stand up, my hand slid as apparently I hadn't put my hand on a table, but Jace's tray of food. The tray tipped over, along with his lasagne and landed conveniently on my head. I gasped as I felt the squishy texture of the food slide down the side of my face. I heard everyone's laughter before I saw it, Jace's in particular.

Between spells of laughter he managed to gasp out, "And here I was thinking that your hair couldn't get any more red."

I licked my lips, trying my best not to start screaming at him. Slowly, I stood up. I cleared my throat.

"I'm glad you find it so amusing." I said, attempting to make my voice as measured as possible. Before I knew what I was doing, I had grabbed the lasagne remains from the top of my head and brought it down onto his, making sure that it would be hard to get out. I heard the cafeteria silence immediately. Jace's eyes were squeezed shut, and I could tell that he was trying to retain composure, just as I had. I had a brilliant sensation of victory.

"You will wish you hadn't done that, Fray." He threatened in a low voice, hands balled up in fists.

"Try me." I sneered, crossing my arms over my chest. Suddenly, something cold had splashed in my face. It was milk and it was Jace's doing. I mean, I knew that I was had bad reflexes, but seriously.

"You-" I began hysterically, but he cut me off.

"Tut tut tut, Fray, no swearing at school. This is a sacred place." Even with lasagne smeared across his forehead and strewn in his hair, he still managed to look handsome. I grinded my teeth, and I felt my nostrils flare. I must have looked really attractive (sense the sarcasm?). My hand blindly moved to my right, picking up anything it could find and brought it down on his head. I think it was Sebastian's plate of mashed potato and cauliflower. I sent him an apologetic grimace before turning back to Jace.

"You were saying?" I snarled. He exhaled heavily. I was intending this to be a rhetorical question, but he was relentless.

"What I was saying?" Jace stood up slowly, "I was saying that you are probably the biggest princess I have ever met. You know, you're not the only good person around here-"

I laughed sardonically, "Are you implying that you're a good person? Jace Herondale, the most conceited person in the school. Jace Herondale, the boy who uses girls and then throws them away. Jace Herondale-"

"You don't know anything about me!" he interrupted, his shouts echoing around the cafeteria.

"Right, because I need to!" I bellowed back, "Because you don't make your business the whole school's, anyway! And don't you dare talk to me about 'knowing people' because you just made a judgement about me, and last time I checked- you don't know me either."

We were both inches away from each other, breathing heavily from our shouting match. I had just realised that everyone was listening to our argument, not that it was difficult to hear.

"_What_ exactly is going on in here?"

I whipped around to see Mr. Aldertee standing at the entrance of the cafeteria, looking absolutely livid.


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay, so what happened?"

Mr. Aldertee had Jace and I seated in his office, surveying the both of us as if we would break out in chaos at any moment. Although a short and balding man, he was very menacing. I could tell that he was stressed by the way that he was wheezing out every sentence and was constantly dabbing at his forehead with a handkerchief.

"_She_ started it." Accused Jace, avoiding to look at me.

"What are we, five?" I cried exasperatedly, "I'm sorry, Principal Aldertee, but I am not going to sit here and take the blame for everything. He tripped me-"

"It was an accident." He said resolutely, knuckles whitening as the gripped tightly to the arms of the chair.

"Oh really? Well then so was me stuffing lasagne in your face. And may I just say that, the colour of the sauce is _really_ your colour- you should wear it more often."

"I appreciate that, but if I was going to take fashion advice, which incidentally I don't need to, it wouldn't be from you."

"God, you are _so_-"

"Charming?"

"-arrogant."

"Close enough."

"Not really."

"Enough!" Mr. Aldertee slammed his hands down on his desk and stood up, which didn't really make that much of a difference to his height. "I cannot deal with this right now! We have the bills to pay, teachers that need to be hired and that stupid prom-"

Mr. Aldertee stopped himself, pushing his horn-rimmed glasses further up his nose, "Okay, go clean off and report back immediately to discuss punishment, for the _both_ of you."

The girl's bathroom was empty when I walked in. I stared at myself in the mirror. I had dried tomato sauce stained on my cheek, in my hair and even in my eyebrow. I smelt like dairy as the milk had crusted my top.

"Eugh." I commented.

I pulled my red hair out of its bun, letting it fall down in waves on my shoulders and reaching my waist. I pulled a paper towel from the dispenser, drenched it in water and began to work the stains out of my hair and clothes. I thought miserably of the fight in the cafeteria. Everyone was now going to know me as the crazy midget who had a food fight with Jace Herondale. How does he manage to ruin _everything_ for me and keep everything for himself so perfect? How was _he_ so perfect? Why did he get everything, and I get nothing? What made him so special? I knew I was just whining to myself, but I didn't care. And now, I was going to get punished for something that was _his_ fault. And it was going to probably go on my permanent record. My first black mark on my permanent record. This was going to make it harder to get into Parsons. My eyes began to sting and before I knew it I was crying. _God I am so pathetic_, I thought as I wiped the tears off my face. Thinking that I wouldn't be able to get any cleaner, I exited the bathroom. I looked at my feet as I walked, wiping my eyes and sniffling trying to get rid of any remnants of the tears that were on my face.

"Clary?" a deep voice called my name. My head snapped to the source immediately. Sebastian was walking down from the other end of the hallway.

"Sebastian…" I said, trailing off. I was confused as to why he was talking to me, let along calling my name out like we had been friends forever.

"Hey, are you ok?" he asked, standing in front of me, hands in pockets. His dark eyes watched my face.

"Um, yeah, fine" I smiled falsely, shifting uncomfortably on my feet. I hugged my elbows and looked around awkwardly at the lockers, so I wouldn't have to look at him. I heard him chuckle softly.

"It was awesome, by the way." Sebastian grinned. I met his eye this time.

"What was?" A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.

"What you did in the cafeteria, Jace needed to hear that from someone. The fact that it was you just made it ten times better."

"What do you mean?" I tilted my head to the side, watching his dimples at the side of his mouth deepen as his smile grew.

"Well, you know, your group are basically the only people who don't faun over him and I guess he may have resented it, just because he's not used to it, you know? I mean, I think Jace is a great guy, a little conceited, but he's actually pretty good once you get to know him. He just shows everyone else in school his…" Sebastian struggled to find the right word, "…overconfident side, which I have to admit really gets on my nerves. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I thought what you did was really cool, even if you did have to use my lunch to get your point across."

I giggled and grasped his (very muscular) arm out of habit, "I am so sorry about that!" I cried, covering my mouth with my hand.

"No worries," He laughed in response, "Just try not to do that again."

I was hit with another bout of laughter, while I shook my head.

"I am so sorry!" I repeated, slowly starting to calm down, "If there's anything I can do, just let me know." I began to turn around when he stopped me.

"Actually," he said thoughtfully, "There is something."

I looked at him expectantly.

"Maybe we could have lunch sometime? And, you know, I'll just make sure it doesn't happen."

I was completely taken by surprise. This was Sebastian Verlac. Jock. Someone who was in league with Isabelle. He was hot. He was nice. He was funny.

"U-um," I stuttered, "Yeah..Sure! W-why not?"

Hearing his voice after hearing mine highlighted just how uncomfortable I sounded.

"Sweet," he flashed a smile, "I'll talk to you later."

I'm pretty sure I saw him give me a quick wink before he turned around and disappeared around the corner at the end of the hallway. Scratching the back of my head, a little confused as to what just happened, I turned around to see Jace. Jace was standing at the principle's door, in a position that revealed that he had just been watching me and Sebastian's conversation. I glared at him before pushing past him and walking back into Mr. Aldertee's office. Mr. Aldertee was sitting at his chair, hands clasped superiorly, staring at the wall in front of him. This made me wonder whether he had just been sitting like that, just waiting for us to come back. Jace and I both sat back down in our chairs.

"So," Mr. Aldertee began, "I have thought long and hard about your punishment, and I have come to a conclusion. You have two options. Option number one: as you know, the senior prom is coming up, and we are a little short on people to help out on setting up the dance. You can help with that. You do that and this little situation doesn't go on your permanent record. Option number two: you can have a month of detention, weekends included, and it _will_ go on your permanent record. What do you say?"

Jace threw himself back in his chair, and groaned loudly.

"Do we even have a choice?" he moaned, dragging his hands down his face dramatically.

"Well yes, of course you do. I just gave them to you then." Mr. Aldertee replied, calmly.

"Yes, but it's not like I can afford another thing on my permanent record! And who wants detentions for a month, _including_ weekends! I have a life, not sure about Red over here, but I sure as hell do-"

"Language, Mr. Herondale!"

"-You've basically given us two options, one being utterly unreasonable, so we'll have to choose the one you want us to, because you don't have anyone stupid enough who actually _wants_ to do it!" continued Jace, as if it was a sort of conspiracy. I can't say that I was surprised that Mr. Aldertee had tried to pull something like this. I've always had a pretty good judgement of character, and his overly cheery moods never fooled me. He was manipulative and sneaky, which I didn't like, but it got the students to do what he wanted.

"Utterly unreasonable!? "Mr. Aldertee repeated in an outraged tone, "How dare you, Mr. Herondale! You practically create a warzone in my cafeteria-"

"Okay, let's not get too carried away here." I muttered. My elbow rested on the arm of the chair while I pinched the bridge of my nose, this was too much yelling for one day.

"- and you say that I am being unreasonable in giving you an option that inevitably will make the difference to whether you go to college or not? Because I have seen your record, Herondale, and I can assure you that one more black mark and _no_ decent college will ever want you! How dare you!"

Mr. Aldertee was breathing heavily, and I could hear a faint wheeze introduce itself. He sat back down in his chair, dabbing his forehead again. Although I will deny it if brought up, I have to admit that I was feeling a little bad for Jace. A wounded look fleeted across his face but dissolved into a hard expression within a second.

"Fine," he snarled, "I'll go with the first option. Just as you wanted."

Mr. Aldertee looked please, and then turned to me with interest. Sighing heavily, I gave him my answer.

"Option one for me, also, sir."

Jace snorted.

"Thank you," a sly smile harboured Mr. Aldertee's face, "From now one you must report every Tuesday and Thursday after school until 6:30 to organise the prom. I'll want frequent updates. Thank you, you may leave and return back to your last class."

Hastily, I heaved myself out of my seat, not wanting to have to endure Jace's taunts out in the hallway. I wasn't lucky.

"You know, if you wanted to spend more time with me, you could have just asked. I would have said no, but still." Jace had called out to me in hallway. I had gotten out of Mr. Aldertee's office in record time in order to avoid this, but apparently, Jace didn't see this as an obstacle.

"Excuse me?" I raised an eyebrow whilst turning around to face him.

"You're excused," he said nonchalantly with a wave of the hand, "But what I meant was, why did you pick option one? You have no black marks on your permanent record. You're a goody two shoes."

"I'm going to ignore that insult." I replied icily, "But it's because it would be harder to get into Parsons."

Jace stared at me blankly, obviously having no idea what I was talking about.

"Parsons University?" I slowly repeated, "You know, the art and design one in New York?"

Gradually, recognition seeped into his features.

"Oh, so you want to go to Parsons for art?" he nodded, digging his hands into the pocket of his designer jeans.

"Yeah, I know _you_ don't think that my drawings are anything special," I remarked, remembering our previous conversation from earlier in the day, "but it's something that I love to do, so…"

He nodded again, clearly recognising that this conversation had become sufficiently awkward. Why were we talking like normal people? We had just had a massive fight in front of the whole school. Suddenly becoming uncomfortable myself, I hugged my elbows tightly and bit my bottom lip.

"Well… I should probably go…" I trailed off, "See you tomorrow."

Jace scratched the back of his neck before nodding _again_.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

I turned around and left, trying to figure out why that situation had just been so…normal. No snide remarks, no sarcastic undertone, it was just normal. Granted, the conversation had only lasted for about 4 sentences, but it was still a huge step further from where we were about an hour ago. Shaking my head devoid of Jace, I headed back to class, which was math. My worst subject.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Hey there my chickees, I just wanted to say that I am so sorry that I have taken so long to update this! I've just been on holidays and have been pretty busy, it was my 17th birthday last week! wooh! But back to this, I wanted to thank you all for the feedback, I really appreciate it. If you have any suggestions don't be afraid to tell me. I try to check my emails every day so I'll get back to you asap. Also, don't be afraid to PM me! :) So, because I'm so sorry, I have added in a little bit at the end which is Jace's POV! Hope you like it my lovelies. _**_(also, if you have tumblr, follow me on faiichild and don't be afraid to come say hi!)_

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The way I thought about it was, math was a subject that bound my creative ability. I mean, everything was just facts- there was no different way to interpret it, either you were right or you were wrong, and to be honest, that did just not flow with how I worked. And since when did math decide they needed to incorporate the alphabet, as well? I pressed my pencil hard into my lined paper frustratedly, unable to make sense of the jumble of letters and numbers that were scattered across my page. The classroom was deadly quiet, the only sound coming from the ticking of the clock and the scribbling of pencil onto paper. I glanced upwards at Mr. Hodge, a thin man with wispy white hair and a beaky nose, sitting at his desk most likely planning the death of small children. Another thing, I detested math so much because our teacher was the embodiment of Satan. Example one, I walked into class 15 minutes late today, having a perfectly good excuse as I was with the principle, and he yelled at me, throwing an array of insults, including, "a flesh-monger", "scullion" and a "weasel", a majority of which I don't even know the meaning of. As if it wasn't enough that when I walked in to the classroom I felt about a billion eyes burning a hole into my face, and whisperings of my name, most likely talking about how crazy I was, taking the lunchroom incident out of context. I suppressed a growl just thinking about it. Maia looked at me sideways, raising her eyebrows in a questioning manner.

"What happened with Principle Aldertee?" she whispered, casting cautionary glances between myself and Mr. Hodge, making sure that he wouldn't catch us and start calling us, 'rampallians'. I didn't answer straight away, a tactic I had learnt the hard way when trying to have a conversation in Mr. Hodge's class. I continued to pretend like I knew what I was doing while I whispered out of the corner of my mouth.

"IhavetoplanthepromwithJace" I said quickly and almost inaudibly.

Maia's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, looking at me weirdly. She licked her lips. "What?" she mouthed.

"Ihave to planthepromwith Jace." I replied, a little more clearly. Maia shook her head slightly at me, indicating that she still hadn't gotten what I was trying to say. Her eyes widened and she tapped the piece of paper in front of her. "Write it out" she mouthed. I was slightly jealous of how she could mouth words so well. Again, from the experience of attempting to have conversations in this class, Maia and I had deducted that we should leave the 'word-mouthing' to her. Nodding in agreement that I would write down what happened with the principle, I slowly scrawled it onto my worksheet.

"I have to plan the prom with Jace."

Slowly and carefully, my eyes glued to the teacher, I slid the piece of paper to Maia. Slowly and carefully, with her eyes glued to the teacher, she slid it in front of herself. Her gaze gradually shifted down to the paper in front of her. I saw them scan across the words, seeing her thought process as her eyes practically bulged from her head. She slapped her hand to her mouth, but that did not muffle the squeal that escaped it. The whole class, as if on cue, turned around at stared at the both of us.

"What is going on?" a deep voice sounded from the front of the class. Mr. Hodge had slightly risen from his seat, spectacles hanging off of his nose. He was dressed in a brown tweed suit that, although looked smart, looked just as old as he was. His white hair was combed neatly, parted down the middle, and the creases adorning his blue eyes that had the potential to emit a friendly ora, somehow gave the him an even more frightening appearance.

"Nothing." Maia and I sang in chorus. He looked at us suspiciously, walking out from behind his desk and to the front of the class, the rage growing more apparent in his features with every step he took.

"I will not have you _rampallians_ disrupting my class! Get out! Out!" he cried. Initially, I thought he was kidding, but then I looked at his grim face, and shaking arm that was pointing to the door, and also the prospect of Mr. Hodge ever telling a joke. Maia and I scrambled our things together and hurriedly exited the classroom, not being able to stop ourselves from giggling hysterically once we entered the empty hallway, dropping our books on the floor in the process.

"Oh my god!" I gasped tears of laughter forming in the corner of my eyes.

"Get out! Out!" imitated Maia with a look on her face that I think was supposed to look like Mr. Hodge's, but in fact just looked as if she had eaten an extremely sour lemon.

I fanned my eyes with my hands, trying to get myself to calm down. Maia and I leant against the lockers, breathing heavily. After we had calmed down, Maia's head lolled to the side to face me, looking rather serious.

"All I'm going to say is.." she paused, looking down at the ground, "sucked in! You have to plan the prom, and best of all, with Jace Herondale!" she began giggling again, her hands clutching the sides of her stomach. I, however, did not seem to find as much humour in that statement as she did.

"Shut up, it's not funny!" I glared, slapping her on the forearm. It was annoying how much glee she was getting out of this. She's supposed to be giving me a pep talk about how, yes it would be bad, but about how I would be able to get through it if I just kept my mouth shut and ignored the boy. But, of course, I nearly forgot that as my best friend she believed that it was her duty to make fun of me whenever possible.

"I beg to differ!" she cackled as she slid down the locker and rolled into a ball on the ground and continued to laugh manically. These are the kind of people I'm friends with. Her dark hair spilled from her shoulders and acted as a sort of pillow for her head against the hard cold floor. I rolled my eyes at her immaturity and stared up at the ceiling.

"God. Two whole months with that jerk setting up a prom that I'm not even going to go to." I sighed, folding my arms across my chest. The bell reverberated around through the school, signifying the end of last period. I wanted to get out of there before everyone started coming out of class and talking about the incident at lunch.

"I better get going." I said quickly, "I'll text you tonight!"

Maia, still lying on the ground, lifted up a hand in response.

"You should get off the ground, you're going to get trampled." I called as I walked down the hallway towards the door, my small heels echoing off the walls. She just started laughing again.

I walked into homeroom the next morning, fully ignoring the stares from my peers, having to endure them from the moment I set foot on school grounds. I yawned bashfully whilst doing so, not bothering to cover my mouth, having had such a terrible sleep the previous night, I just didn't care. My mom and Luke weren't too pleased with the news of my fight in the cafeteria. They grounded me for 3 weeks, which I didn't think was that bad. Maia and Simon were sitting dutifully in our spot near the back of the classroom, engrossed in what appeared to be a very serious conversation.

"Ok, I'm sorry, but Jonathon Frakes could not pull off that younger version of himself. I'm just gonna put it out there, but Star Trek got it totally wrong. He had gotten to a point where he couldn't play anything younger than 40." Simon said this as if it was something that ended the conversation completely, putting his hands up in defence as if saying, 'I rest my case.' Maia gasped indignantly, looking horror-struck.

"How dare you!" she cried, smacking Simon harder than I would if I was just joking around with him. Holding absolutely no knowledge or interest in the topic of Star Trek, I just sat down in the seat next to the both of them to let them continue their conversation. Maia turned to me, not seeming o catch onto my desire to not be spoken to.

"Excited for this afternoon?" she teased, grinning.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Ugh, don't remind me." I buried my head into my arms on the desk. Of course, I didn't need to be reminded, it was basically all that I thought of last night, hence, why I had such a bad sleep. Images of Jace haunted me while lay in bed. That sarcastic and arrogant smile of his. I think that I was actually nervous of spending this long with him, just him and I. Not the kind of nervous most girls get when being around Jace Herondale- the romantic kind; my type of nervous was more like the kind you get before doing a speech in front a large audience, or performing a drama monologue. I was nervous because I was scared that I wouldn't be able to outwit him at some point. That he would win. I mean, he always does, that's just how he works. At that thought, I realised that I couldn't hear his obnoxious voice talking about himself in this class. Peeping out of my hiding place, I noticed that he wasn't here. God, if he was skipping out on school to get out of this afternoon I was going to-

"Wait, what's happening this afternoon?" Simon asked from my side. Sighing, I propped my chin on top of my arms.

"I have to plan the prom with him, twice a week, for two months." I rolled my eyes into the back of my head to signify my annoyance with this arrangement, not having the energy to do anything else.

"Wow, what?" Simon leaned forwards, "why do you have to do that?"

"It's her punishment for what happened in the cafeteria." laughed Maia, clapping her hands together while leaning back in her chair. I buried my face back into my arms

"Yeah, sorry, I forgot to tell you," I said, before Simon could get upset, my voice muffled slightly,"It's not my fault that you're not in my math class, because you're too smart for me."

Flattery always works with Simon. I smirked from my hiding spot.

"It's okay." he replied, I could tell he was smiling without even looking at him.

The bell rang, my mind instantly notifying that Jace hadn't come to homeroom. Anger riled up inside my stomach, thinking of the excuse that he must have come up with to get out coming to school today and consequently doing detention time with me. I mindlessly followed Maia and Simon in front of me, trying to control my annoyance. Of course Jace was going to pull a stunt like this. I ground my teeth together. We had both started the fight in the cafeteria. We had both gotten in trouble. Both given an ultimatum. But somehow, he was getting out of it by saying he was sick or another pathetic excuse. Isabelle bumped shoulders with me in the hallway as a way of greeting me.

"You're brother's a coward." I growled, without even looking at her. I heard her musical laugh, throwing an arm around my shoulder. I immediately tensed up. I was frustrated, and when I was frustrated I didn't like people touching me.

"If you're talking about why he's not here right now, it's because he has an orthodontist appointment. He's not skipping out on your little get-together this afternoon."

The irritation that I had felt eating away at my insides slowly melted away to be replaced with a small bout of guilt. I looked up sheepishly at Isabelle, her heels making her so much more noticeably taller than me.

"Sorry." I grimaced, I could feel a warm blush creeping up onto my cheeks and down on my chest, something that I often got when embarrassed, nervous or stressed.

"Yeah, and thanks for telling me about that, by the way. Not a text or anything. Zero. Zilch. I had to find out from this one over here." she tilted her head in the direction of Maia, who had obviously begun to reintroduce her conversation with Simon about Star Trek. I let my head fall onto Isabelle's shoulder as we made our way to History.

"Sorry, Iz," I said apologetically, "I guess I just didn't really want to think about it."

"No worries, I wouldn't want to either." she snorted, placing her head on top of mine. I had a familiar sense of security with Izzy. Her fierce nature and her reputation around school made me feel protected, because I knew that she had my back.

The whole day I had sat in my seat, not really paying any attention to what the teacher was saying. I fidgeted with my fingers, biting at my nails without quite realising what I was doing. I was dreading . I avoided Jace the whole day, and in Art, I couldn't even conjure a single idea to put onto paper. It was frustrating me on a level I can't even describe. After the bell rung for the end of the day, I hung by my locker, trying to buy time by talking to Maia.

"I know what you're trying to do." smiled Maia as she hauled books from her locker and into her bag to take home.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I replied, airily, while pretending to look at something in my own locker. I heard her chuckle softly from beside me.

"You're trying to procrastinate with this whole detention thing." When I didn't reply, she slammed my locker door shut. I squealed, not expecting it.

"You could have shut my face in there!" I said angrily.

"Oh, shut up." she scolded, "As your best friend, it is my duty to do this." She took my small fame in her hands and spun me around.

"Go." she said. She pushed me in the direction of the gym, where I was supposed to be meeting with Jace. Grudgingly, I started walking, not forgetting to throw a dirty glance back at Maia.

"You'll thank me later." She called from behind me. I ignored her and continued to walk slowly.

**JACE'S POV ****_(_**_for Cnopps :p hope you like it!__** )**_

I walked down the hallways of the school, checking my watch to see that I was 10 minutes late already. Clucking my tongue against my gums I sped up the pace a little. Knowing Little Red and her bad temper she was probably going to scream at me when I got there. She really was crazy. Slowing down as I got to the entrance of the gym, (I didn't want it to look like I was straining myself to get there) I peered through the small window that gave me a view into the room. She was sitting there, staring fixedly on a speck of light seeping in through the gym's windows. She didn't look angry. Taking a deep breath, I stepped in. I walked towards her, my shoes squeaking against the floors. Her eyes did not move from the spot, it was like she hadn't noticed me. I was now standing in front of her, not knowing what to say.

"You're late." she said quietly. Finally, she looked up at me, and I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. In this light, I noted how green her eyes were.

"Yeah, sorry I was-" I began, but she cut me off.

"I don't care," she said calmly. Somehow her more reserved anger was much more intimidating than the anger she displayed towards me in the cafeteria the previous day. "I just want to get this thing over with."

In that moment, it was like we both had a silent agreement to put aside our differences and just get this done. We both didn't like each other, but we didn't have to. Regardless what we wanted, this was the deal we got and we had to go through with it.

"Fair enough." I nodded while taking a seat next to her. I sensed her tense up as I did this, but then relax. It must have just been an instinctive response to something unfamiliar. I don't even think I've been this close to her when we weren't arguing, which was often.

"So.." she said, pursing her lips.

"Where to begin.." I trailed off, just in an attempt to fill the silence. She shot a quizzical look at me, like she thought I was making fun of her. She was so defensive.

"Aren't Claudia and Janette coming?" She asked, looking hopefully at the door.

"No, since we're doing it now, they decided to bail."

"Of course they did," she said resentfully, rolling her eyes. I nodded again, grimacing. Another bout of silence overtook us. She looked so incredibly uncomfortable that it almost made me laugh.

"Okay, so, where do we start?" I asked, in a bored tone, leaning back against the seat.

"How would I know?" she countered, raising an eyebrow at me, "I've never planned a prom before. Or been to one."

"Shocker." I said under my breath, but I knew she heard it. If looks could kill. I quickly decided to say something else before she actually decided to murder me.

"Yeah, but you're a girl, don't girls always dream about their prom and stuff? You must have some ideas?"

"Oh, right, so because I'm a girl, I know exactly what I'm doing?" she looked at me like I had just uttered the most stupid words, "You're an idiot."

I scoffed, deciding not to pursue it as it would just make everything much worse than it had to be. I took a deep breath, suppressing a number of witty insults I could throw at her.

"I'm not even going to this thing, it's so stupid!" she cried, pinching the bridge of her nose. I snuck a glance at her now, her eyes squinted shut, eyebrows furrowed, lips tightly pressed together still creating those dimples that I always saw on her no matter what emotion. I ran a hand through my hair.

"Not even with that dork, what's his name, Sam?" I questioned, trying to get her to calm down. I mean, out of the two of us, she was the one who was most likely going to do a majority of the work. She couldn't do any of that if she had a stroke. This, however, was not the right thing to say.

"His name is Simon!" she said exasperatedly, glaring at me again. She took a deep breath, deciding to dismiss the issue. "but, no, I wasn't, Simon and I are just friends."

"So, you can go to prom with friends."

"You wouldn't get it," She said accusingly, "it just wouldn't be fun for me."

I leaned back into my seat, and stared up at the ceiling.

"Yeah, I don't really want to go either." I admitted. She was the first person I had ever said that to.

"Why?" I heard her ask. Even she couldn't mask the pure curiosity in her voice. Everyone always had expectations for me, just because I was considered popular. They always expected me to social, and to want to be social, and go to things like parties every weekend, and especially prom. I, personally, thought the idea was fun, but the reality was going to be entirely different. I was most likely going to go with Aline, and the entire night would me assuring her that she didn't look fat in her dress and then convincing her that I didn't want to have sex with her, in my car. Of course, I wasn't going to tell Little Red that.

"Same reason as you, I guess." I sighed. She replied instantly, speculation laced in her tone.

"I don't want to go because it will be dominated by all you people and you're not exactly in my social group."

I rolled my eyes.

"Why are you always so…so.." I struggled to find the right word.

"Don't hurt yourself." she snorted.

"Just forget it!" I finally got out, irritated that I even told her anything in the first place.

"Already forgotten."

The rest of the afternoon was spent on trying to figure things we needed to include in organising the prom which included the theme and the budget. This, of course, was intermingled with pieces of banter every now and then. She scribbled things down in her notebook. Not that there was much to write down, we weren't coming up with very good ideas, even I knew that. I got her to smile a couple times. It gave me a sense of accomplishment, getting someone who didn't like me to smile. I still didn't like her, and she still didn't like me, and that wouldn't change, but I was surprised at how easy it was to forget how much we hated each other.


	5. Chapter Fivo y'all

**HELLO READERS. I am SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY. I know I have taken SUPER long to update this, but this is my last term of year 11, and I had prelim exams and ugh I'm starting year 12 next term so I was under a lot of stress, I even had to stop going on Tumblr for a while, it killed me. But, finally, here is the next chapter. I have put two more of the things that you liked so much in the previous chapter just to show you how sorry I am. I have hols coming up so I will try and update asap! PLEASE REVIEW: THE MORE YOU REVIEW, THE MORE LIKELY ILL POST IT SOONER BECAUSE I'LL KNOW ROUGHLY HOW MANY PEOPLE ACTUALLY READ IT JAH FEEL. Also, if you have any suggestions, or anything specific that you might want to see, please just let me know and I'll try my best to incorporate it yo. Love all you chickadees! Thanks for reading, you're all awesome. **

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The school bell rang abruptly, startling me from my reverie. I hadn't noticed that I had dazed off while I was supposed to be taking books from my locker for my next class. I looked around at the deserted white halls of the school. And now I was going to be late. Great. I quickly scrambled whatever I thought I needed and hurried off to my next class, History. Silently, I creeped in through the back door while my teacher had his back to the class and was writing on the white board. I slinked into the only free seat available, in the back row. I felt my body relax as I hadn't been caught, and sighed, relieved. A snicker sounded from the seat next to me. From the corner of my eye, I caught a flicker of a brilliantly white grin and sun kissed skin. _Of course_, I thought, _Of course I sat myself next to him, of all people._

"You look like you've just been running from the police for murdering someone," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "What, you've never been late to class before, Fray?"

I instinctively rolled my eyes to his question, fiddling irritably with some of the beachy bracelets that adorned my wrist.

"Just shut up, Herondale, before you say something that could lower everyone in the rooms IQ." I replied, quietly, trying to mask my annoyance. I felt him shake with silent laughter next to me. My eyes squeezed shut as I mentally slapped myself for not looking at the room more carefully when I came in for a better seat. It took a while for Jace to retain his composure, taking a couple of deep breaths.

"You keep me entertained, Red."

My stomach jerked uncomfortably at that sentence. Why, I couldn't tell you. I swallowed, trying to ignore the uneasiness that I had just experienced. This added to another of the strange experiences with Jace, that weren't entirely uncivilised. They were playful in their own sense. Jace had focused his attention back to the teacher. I allowed myself to really look at him. Speaking objectively from an unbiased perspective, he really was beautiful. His frame was lean, yet muscular. His skin was tanned, but not battered by the sun. His hair was not a blonde, but a mixture of differing shades of the colour. His eyes, harboured amber flecks that I hadn't ever seen in anyone else. But what really interested me was his smile. It wasn't perfect, like the rest of him. His teeth had an incision on his bicuspid. Instead of hindering his appearance, I thought that it actually made him look more attractive. It was an imperfection that made him seem real.

**JACE POV**

She had been staring at me for a solid 2 minutes. I know that doesn't seem like a lot, but when someone is staring at you- it is. I had been pretending to pay attention to the teacher to get myself distracted from engaging in the banter that we always had when we were in the same room together. It had been about two weeks since our first meeting about prom, and the vicious arguments had toned themselves down to banter that was less nasty. It was more of a joke. I still didn't think that we liked each other all that much, or even considered each other friends. Main reason being, she thought I was an "arrogant prick" and I though that she was…Well, I thought she was annoying. And she was also still staring at me.

"I know, I do have despairingly good looks," I muttered, causing her to jump a little in her seat, "But you need to be more subtle. You don't want to seem too keen."

Her face flushed a deep crimson, igniting the freckles that lightly swept her face as her emerald eyes shone with embarrassment. The same way they had a few days ago when I went up to her to discuss themes for the prom (what has my life come to, honestly.)

I leant against her locker, smirking, as I normally do with girls that I'm "seeing", trying to make her uncomfortable. It was just funny to see her reactions to these sorts of things. It was clear that she didn't think that she was pretty, not because she wasn't but by how she acted. I would watch her sometimes, as she shuffled through the hallways. When she wasn't with her friends, she had her fiery head down, slinking in and out of the crowd, trying not to be noticed. She would always do that thing, where she would hug herself by grabbing onto her elbows. She would always averted eye contact whenever talking to a guy that wasn't Scott, or whatever his name was. Thats how she acted with Sebastian. Red tried to uphold a sense of confidence, a sense of strength, which was admirable, I'll admit. But it wasn't really there. She hid behind that curtain of auburn hair, and her short fused temper that I couldn't help but light every time I saw her.

"So…" I trailed off, trying to get her attention as she stacked her books up neatly in her locker, "My groups been talking, and they kind of want a theme. You know, for the prom."

"Well, your group is full of idiots," she shot back, without missing a beat. Despite the insult, I suppressed a smile at her immediate wit.

"Themes are stupid." she finished, slamming her locker door shut with a huff, and staring at me with those piercing eyes. I shoved my hands deep into my pockets.

"Yeah, I know, but its what they want." I grimaced, running my hand through my hair. She rolled her eyes, something that I noticed her doing a lot with me.

"And what they want, they shall receive..." Red said, "How about…Casino?"

"No." I said, instantly, leaning against the locker next to hers, looking at her intently as she scrunched up her nose, as if it helped her think.

"Yeah, I know, stupid." She muttered, turning her head so her back was against the lockers, imitating my position. "Okay, how about, like the Yule Ball, you know in Harry Potter?"

I laughed before I could stop myself. She was genuinely excited about that idea. I turned back to her to see her looking slightly crest-fallen.

"That is a good idea, but I don't think they would get it."

Red giggled before sighing, "Okay..How about…Masquerade?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"That is actually an alright idea. Kudos." I heaved my weight off of the locker so I was standing directly in front of her.

"Wow." she smirked back at me, "An actual compliment, from the actual Jace Herondale. I think I might faint." She feigned a girly squeal before pretending she had passed out. She then opened her eyes, only to glare at me.

"Careful Red, or one day, you may actually get a _real_ compliment from me." Swiftly, I lifted and dropped one of her soft curls and stalked away, not before seeing the same blush and expression that she was wearing now.

If it was any other girl, I would have thought that it was because she liked me. Had a crush on me.

But Red wasn't like those other girls.

Red didn't like me like that.

Red didn't like me at all.

**CLAZ POV **

Isabelle and I stood in the line at the cafeteria, when she decided to bring up the topic of Sebastian.

"Look, he said that we would have lunch sometime. That's it. I haven't spoken to him since. It was probably a dare or something." I shrugged as the line moved sluggishly. God, people need to pick up their pace.

"Or, you're just annoyingly self conscious and need to accept that he might actually think you're cute. Maybe he's waiting for you to make the next move."

Her big blue eyes surveyed my face. She had taken her "big sister Isabelle" stance. One hand on her hip. One leg posed out. Pouty lips, that she somehow thought made her look authoritative and intimidating. I shook my head. I reached for my lunch over the counter at the cafeteria and snatched an apple out of the basket. I latched onto a mouthful ungracefully with my teeth and began to speak as we continued to move down the line.

"All I know is, I'm not chasing after that guy. Sure, he's super hot. Yes, he does have the body of adonis. Have I found myself staring at his eyes when I should be doing work, why yes, yes I have. Bu-"

Isabelle's "big sister" expression had completely gone blank. She was looking kind of shocked, and was shaking her head feverishly at me.

"What are you doing?" I said, chewing very unladylike, yet taking another bite of the greeny juicy apple, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

It then became apparent to me that Isabelle wasn't staring at me, but rather at something behind me.

"What are you-" rolling my eyes, I turned around, and bumped into a tall, muscular figure.

"Oh hey…Sebastian" I tried to swallow all the apple that was in my mouth as quickly as possible without killing myself. He chuckled softly, grabbing onto my arms and taking a step back from me. Sebastian looked down at me (our height difference was ridiculous), and was smiling.

"Hey Clary, how've you been?" His smile literally dazzled me. He was wearing a light grey v neck that showcased his muscles perfectly, with light blue faded jeans.

"Um, yeah, good!" I gasped, still recovering from hastily gulping down the food, "How have you been?"

Sebastian rubbed the back of his neck, "Really busy, actually. That's why I haven't seen you around lately, sorry about that." He looked genuinely concerned about it, his eyebrows furrowing and creasing his well structured face.

"So, how about that lunch, then? You down for it now?" Sebastian grinned at me. How could I resist. I licked my lips hesitantly, glancing back at Isabelle, who nodded vigorously, signalling that it was ok for me to go.

"Yeah, sure." I smiled back, pushing some stray strands of hair out of my face.

"Here, let me take your tray." Sebastian offered, taking it from my hands. Such a gentlemen. He gestured with his head for me to follow him, and we sat down at a table together, just the two of us.

**JACE POV aawww yissss**

I was getting bored of the same old conversation that circulated around our table. It was repetitive and it was relentless. Sighing, I glanced around the cafeteria, looking for anything interesting that I could occupy myself with for the next half hour. My eyes got caught on the familiar red head. But, she wasn't sitting with her normal group, it was out of place. She was sitting at a table with Sebastian.

Hmm.

Red and Sebastian. It was like The Little Mermaid.

They occupied one table and sat on opposite sides of each other, looking like they were enjoying themselves. Sebastian talking animatedly, I think he may have been telling a story. He gestured wildly, smiling as he went. Red had her chin propped up delicately on her elbows, and was staring fixedly at him. Grinning, and nodding along to his story. Every so often, she would throw her head back and laugh at something that he had said. I had never seen her like this with another guy, only her friends, and Sean didn't count. She was never like this with me. She was always so defensive, and sheltered around me. It was kind of like she constantly thought that I was making fun of her. I don't know what she had taken an instant disliking to me. I know she thinks I'm arrogant, and I am. But, I'm not that bad of a person. For some reason, her distaste for me irritated me more than it should have. Everyone likes me. Before our cafeteria fight, we had never really spoken. I just knew her as Jon's younger sister, who would glare at me in the hallways whenever she got the chance. It was just unusual compared to how the other girls treated me.

I knew that Red didn't like me like that.

I knew that Red didn't like me at all.

Red was an enigma, and I planned on figuring her out.

* * *

**OH OH OH OH OH**

**JACE, WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?**

**Do you think Jace is starting to care what little Miss Fray thinks of him? Why does it bother him so much?**

_**Tell me what you think you beautiful souls who have decided to read this :3**___


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